Leaving
England at the age of 16, he travelled to Rhodesia where he worked on a farm
becoming the manager by the age of 21. Having fought in South-West Africa, he
returned to Britain and joined the RFC, gaining his RAeC
Certificate (No 2015) on 6 November 1915.In
March 1916, one of his flight, Lt W Leefe-Robinson, brought down the first
Zeppelin over England for which he was awarded a VC.With No 45 Sqn he gained his five victories, thereby raising him to
‘ace’ status. It was in India that he saw the deplorable state of the RAF in
the area and at one point even threatened to resign his commission over the
situation.He has often been
‘credited’ with start ‘area bombing’, but this decision was made before
he took over Bomber Command.However,
having been given the task he carried it out with vigor.He also attempted increase the profile of the command and within months
of taking over command had managed to mount three '1000 Bomber' raids against
Cologne, Essen and Bremen.After
the war, shunned by the British authorities, he returned to South Africa and
became Managing Director ofthe
South African Marine Corporation (Safmarine).He was eventually honoured when Churchill returned to Downing Street in
1953, but at his own request was awarded a baronetcy rather than a peerage.